The Dance Ontario Commissioning Committee (Lola Ryan, Jennifer Watkins, Yasmina Ramzy, Tina Nicolaidis and Ofilio Sinbadhino) are delighted to announce that Tracey Norman and Maddie Hanson have been selected as this year's Commissions|Creative Partnerships. The artists will present their work at DanceWeekend'20 running at Harbourfront Centre Jan 25 & 26, 2020.|

TRACEY NORMAN will create where we intersect composed of a series of solos, duets and trios, which will connect into a larger work delving into the failure and recovery of the body. This first component involves a solo for Julia Sasso, a duet for Rufi Oswaldo and Denise Solleza and a trio for Irvin Chow, Jesse Dell and Syreeta Hector. The work explores the body’s ability to break, recover and to connect deeply with our emotional landscape. This highly physical collage of miniatures will place dance artists at its core where they will be paramount to the making of the work.

BIOGRAPHY: Toronto-based dance artist Tracey Norman is a driving force in her community, spending her time as a choreographer, teacher, performer, outside eye, researcher and mother. Tracey’s choreography has been presented by numerous organizations including DanceWorks Mainstage, NextSteps, Guelph Dance, Kinetic Studio, Dance Matters and Hart House, performed in numerous festivals including, Nuit Blanche, Montreal Fringe, Toronto Fringe, fFIDA, Dance Ontario Dance Weekend and Festival de Dance en l’Atlantique, as well as self and coproduced on stages across North America. Her work has been described as “refreshing and original” (The Globe and Mail) and nominated for a Frankie Award for Most Outstanding Choreography (Montreal, 2018). Tracey has been on faculty in the Department of Dance at York University since 2010, following the completion of her MFA in Choreography and Dramaturgy. Since 2007, she has mounted 5 pieces on the York Dance Ensemble, the Department’s pre-professional company. Tracey is an active member of the Intergalactic Arts Collective (IGAC), an artist-run organization that focuses on the research and presentation of new performance work and is housed at Artscape Youngplace in Toronto. Next up is the creation of a large ensemble work, where we intersect, to be presented in 2020. www.traceynorman.com

MADDIE HANSON will create “Retrospective,” a duet between a male and female dancer that is both an exhibition and exploration of the development of their relationship. It will explore the ideas of disconnection and detachment integrating video work created by Treyden Chiaravalloti, on stacked retro televisions that play video content of the two individuals to further elaborate on and review the relationship being portrayed in the movement.

BIOGRAPHY: Canadian dance artist Maddie Hanson is a graduate of The Juilliard School in New York City, accepted as an Early Admission Student at the age of 16. She trained at Soul Motion Integrated Movement Arts in Los Angeles, Springboard Danse Montreal, Batsheva Dance Company Intensive, and San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and is a 2014 Monsters of Hip Hop Show Cast Alumnus. Maddie has performed repertory by Martha Graham, José Limón, Mark Morris, Crystal Pite, Jiri Pokorny, & RUBBERBANDanceGroup.

Her choreographic work has been presented in Juilliard’s Choreographic Workshops and were selected for the Choreographic Honors Performances for several years. She was chosen to create a new work as part of San Francisco Conservatory of Dance’s Summer Choreographic Residency 2017, which was re-performed at the APAP 2018 Conference in New York City. She has received a number of awards and will be creating for MOVE(NYC)’s Young Professionals program this summer. Maddie is represented by MOI Artist Management in Toronto and by bloc LA in Los Angeles.

Dance Ontario's Creative Partnership Program provides $2,000 in production/creation support plus $2,000 performance fee to each of two choreographers for NEW work to be premiered at DanceWeekend each January. Choreographers whose membership is current at the time of submission are eligible to apply. All forms of dance will be considered and two works each approximately 15 minutes in length will be selected. Deadline: May each year

Dance Ontario's Creative Partnership Program will provide $2,000 in production/creation support to each of two choreographers for NEW work to be premiered at DanceWeekend'20 next January. Choreographers whose membership is current at the time of submission are eligible to apply. All forms of dance will be considered and two works each approximately 15 minutes in length will be selected. The Association's Selection Committee looks for applications that :

- demonstrate excellence and professional integrity;

- bridge diverse forms and/or disciplines;

- take creative risks;

- connect with and are relevant to a broad-based audience;

- enhance the artist's repertoire.

Please submit a description of the proposed new work electronically together with a C.V.s for yourself and your collaborators, creation